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August 26, 2013

From Fearing Police To Watching Over Police

Growing up as a black Haitian-American, Constantin Severe had enough run-ins with the police to be wary of them.

Once, when he was a law student, he was at Kinko’s when the alarm was tripped and police responded. He was the first person out the door, and immediately found himself facing an officer’s glock. When it became clear Severe had done no wrong, the police officer brushed off the incident.

"If that officer had tried to explain the situation to me, just saying, 'Sorry for what happened,' I would’ve thought, 'We're good,'" Severe says.

Years later, as a public defender in Portland, Severe learned to trust police officers. Now, he leads the office that is responsible for holding the city’s public defenders accountable. In this conversation with guest host Sean Cole, he talks about how he came to better understand the work of law enforcement.

Columbia Law School professor James Liebman organized his students to re-investigate a murder case which led to the execution of Carlos De Luna. They found evidence that they believe proves that the state of Texas executed the wrong man.

Alicia Partnoy, who was held in a secret prison in Argentina, speaks to Sean Cole about the place called the Little School. The naming of the Buenos Aires cardinal as pope has brought up memories of the country’s Dirty War, during which thousands of citizens were kidnapped and killed.

More from Inside The Mind Of A CIA Analyst [8.26.2013]

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When the U.S. closed embassies throughout the Middle East in response to an intercepted "message" about a planned attack, we wondered: What kind of message? How was it intercepted? And what’s "chatter?"